Sephora names a former PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark and Google vet as its CMO

Sephora is bolstering its executive ranks with a new marketing leader. Four months after former Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Yeh moved into a new position at the company, Sephora has named Zena Srivatsa Arnold as its new head of marketing. Arnold was most recently senior VP of carbonated drinks at PepsiCo. Beginning as CMO at Sephora in early summer, she will oversee the cosmetic retail giant’s marketing leadership team, according to a spokeswoman. This includes managing personalization and performance marketing, loyalty, creative marketing, integrated marketing and external communications. A marketing veteran, Arnold left Pepsi in December after 10 months, according to her LinkedIn profile. Much of her work involved attracting younger consumers to carbonated soft drinks. Prior to PepsiCo, she worked at Kimberly-Clark as chief marketing and digital officer for two years. Her role at the consumer packaged goods maker was to drive digital transformation, and she even made headlines as one of a handful of CMOs honored with a Spotify song in a b-to-b campaign from the music company in 2021. In addition, her background includes a seven-year stint at Google and three years at Kellogg. And she has experience in the beauty category, having held brand management roles on the Olay skincare brand during her tenure at Procter & Gamble more than a decade ago. The CMO role has been vacant at Sephora since Yeh transitioned to global chief purpose officer in early January. She had been the chain’s top marketer for a decade. Sephora also has a new CEO. Guillaume Motte, most recently deputy CEO of parent LVMH Fashion Group, began as Sephora’s CEO and president on Jan. 1. LVMH recently credited the cosmetics chain with helping to boost its revenue 23% last year. At the same time, Sephora’s shop-in-shops at Kohl’s have also been a sales driver with 250 more locations planned for this year—in total, there will be 850 Sephora shops in Kohl’s stores. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Sephora names a former PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark and Google vet as its CMO

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